by Maggie Lee / Staff Writer

The Johns Creek City Council wants the city to be both easier to travel in and homier by the end of the year, but priorities differ on mode of transport and its destination.

“We’re where the sidewalk ends. Shel Silverstein has nothing on us,” said Councilwoman Bev Miller, referring to the poet who wrote the book of that name. “If we could get a few more miles of sidewalk, I’ll call it a success.”

All of the city’s main roads would be lined with sidewalks by 2030 under a plan the council adopted in 2008.  This year’s budget allots $250,000 to build sidewalks and multiuse trails.  It comes out of a total sum of $4.2 million for capital improvements.

“My focus is always on transportation,” declared Councilman Ivan Figueroa, calling it a quality of life issue. His ideas went straight to roads and a list of projects both short and long term.

“Small things: restriping … retiming the lights,” he said, pointing out that the city just spent $35,000 to retime three major intersections on State Bridge Road. The money came from a federal grant.

Figueroa would like to see two-lane Ga. 120 widened between Jones Bridge Road and Old Milton Highway. “That small stretch will affect so many people,” he said.  He’s hoping the idea will make it into an integrated travel plan that the Atlanta Regional Commission is helping form among the five cities of North Fulton plus Mountain Park.

Councilman Randall Johnson named both sidewalks and intersection improvements but implied there’s not enough money for everything he’d like to see.  “If I could have a dream request, we could get more transportation money, more parks and recreation money.”

Budget numbers, however, will qualify what they can do, according to council members. The 2010 budget counts on $45.8 million in revenue; about two thirds of that comes from property taxes plus sales taxes.

Sidewalks and improved roads will reach someplace new — a heart of Johns Creek — if Councilwoman Karen Richardson has her way.  Her colleague Liz Hausmann thinks this city without a Main Street can get moving on a city center.

“I actually think it’s about time for us to begin to look at some of the things that make a city great, like arts and cultural activities,” Richardson said, citing the example of the city Chamber of Commerce’s annual Arts on the Creek festival. “We have to think of what makes a place home, makes a place that people want to come back to and stay in.”

Hausmann is seeking ideas about the talk of a city center but cautioned that “I really want to know if it’s what the community wants to see happen.  And obviously we’re not in a position financially to make it happen now.“

Mayor Mike Bodker declined to name a priority for the moment.

“The reality is, it’s a lot of things woven together that make the city … not just one thing,” he said, adding that he will launch some ideas during his upcoming State of the City address.  He suggested his topics will include the question of bonding some major infrastructure projects, work on a city center, medians and streets and the Greenway trail, which is planned to connect the city’s parks.

The council voted only on routine matters. Incumbent members Johnson, Richardson, Hausmann and Mayor Bodker were sworn in to the same offices.  Each was unopposed in races last year, so no vote was held.